Open URLs In Google Chrome On iPhone - No Jailbreaking Required

As we’ve already covered, the second day of Google I/O, annual developers’ conference, brought number of notable announcements not only for Android users, but for those keen on iOS too! Soon after the immediate release of Google Chrome for iOS, the excitement was becalmed by the fact that Google Chrome cannot be set as a default web browser on iOS, meaning that any link which automatically invokes the browser will open up Mobile Safari no matter what happens, due to the restrictions by Apple.

Number of tweaks has been suggested to make Google Chrome the default web browser on iOS, but the sad thing is that all of them introduced so far have only been valid for Jailbroken users. However, the rest of the users have yet been left without this luxury.

Due to Apple’s tight hold over how iOS devices are used, the Cupertino Company is believed never to implement the option to change the default browser on a device in the future.

Despite the absence of a seamless way of getting around this, a little bit of JavaScript goodness has just been published. When saved as a Safari bookmark, the code will allow any webpage to be passed from Safari to Google Chrome. Despite the fact that the solution provided below may not be the direct alternative of those tweaks for Jailbroken devices, and may not offer the most convenient way of opening web pages in Google Chrome, it is definitely a lot quicker than copying and pasting URLs across browsers.

We have provided the guide on how to get this up and running, so check the simple tutorial below:

Once you make sure the code is copied, activate Mobile Safari and navigate to any webpage, tap the action button present at the toolbar center and save the current page as a bookmark with the name ‘Open Chrome‘.

Now navigate to the bookmarks page and tap “Edit”. Select the bookmark you’ve just saved with the name ‘Open Chrome’ and edit it by replacing the existing page URL with the JavaScript code string you copied at the beginning. When done pasting, save the bookmark.

. Every time you find yourself opening a link that activates Safari, tap the ‘Bookmark‘ button and then pick the ‘Open Chrome‘ bookmark. The existing open page will then open in Google Chrome browser as a result of the JavaScript wizardry you’ve just implemented. If you happen to be confused at any step provided above, check the images attached below to help you figure out.